MARY FINISHED SLAPP’IN JACKS LAST SATURDAY, AND AFTER THREE DAYS ON THE LOWER MOHAVE DESERT WITH TRIPLE DIGIT TEMPERATURES, WE ARRIVED BACK HOME ON THE MOUNTAIN ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.
NOW IT WILL TAKE A COUPLE WEEKS TO SETTLE IN CLEANING AND YARD WORK. OUR TWO BIG PROJECTS FOR THE SUMMER INCLUDE SOME WINDOW REPLACEMENTS AND STAINING THE WEST SIDE OF THE CABIN. COME ON OVER TOMORROW IF YOU WANT TO HELP CLEAN PINE NEEDLES OUT OF THE EVES……..
“SUNNY & 75”
By Uncle Hans
I figured there needed to be an epilogue to the football blog and what better subject than the Athletic Awards ceremony, recently held at Trinity Bible college. I drove out there to see all the guys and catch up on what was happening. The ceremony began with cross-country. the School has a strong program and several runners qualified for nationals. Then came football. This is coach Slivoskey............
........He handed out about a dozen awards, one to Anthony Red Cloud, who was my partner and guide in the dreaded lifting sessions twice a week at 0630. Once he was done, I slipped out of the Chapel, where the ceremony was being held, to go to the bathroom........
.......I knew I would not miss anything important, since the football awards were finished. But, they have an award they give out each year called "Best Moment", commemorating some unforgettable athletic event during the year. Unbeknownst to me, they had decided to award that to me, for my football experience at the school. The Athletic Director went up to the microphone and started explaining the award and why it was being awarded, telling some stories about my season. I think he and the whole audience realized about the same time that I had slipped out and all were wondering what was going to happen next. He just told another story until I ambled back into the Chapel.......
...............to laughter and cheering.
.............I felt kinda bad, taking the award from some more deserving event or person. The 8th seeded guys basketball team upset the 1st seed in the semi-finals of the tournament, 94-93. Our running back scored 6 touchdowns (and nearly scored two more on interceptions), all in the same game.
So there were some very deserving "Best Moments", but the "Football at 65" experience was so unique and positive, that The athletic administration decided that it was to be the award.............
.......If you followed this blog, you have heard me repeatedly discuss out small team size and the challenges and opportunities (for me) presented during the season.
But the football "small size" stories, I found out at the ceremony, pale in comparison to the Women's Basketball stories. They started the season with 6 freshman and 5 sophomores.............that's it, no Juniors or Seniors. They had repeated problems with injury, illness, family emergencies, and general bad luck. They played games with 6 players. They recruited in the lunchroom several times for any student with basketball experience. In the end, only 3 of the original 11 women were still on the roster.
In spite of all that adversity, they had a 15-11 season. They went to the semifinals of the conference tournament and to the semifinals of the regional tournament.
Unbelievable.................
.................To me, that is the winner of the "Best Moment" Award
......So, the ceremony was a fun and fitting epilogue to the whole "Football at 65" experience and a good chance to get a lot of hugs from the entire team. I am glad I made the trip. It was closure.
I was disappointed, however, that I did not win "Lifter of the Year". (just kidding! I hated lifting and was the worst lifter in the gym every time I went!)
By Uncle Hans
By Uncle Hans
Since this is an RV blog, I thought I would write about our recent 3600 mile trip to South Padre Island. This was our 13th RV trip to Texas in 8 years. This was the view of our driveway as we opened the big barn doors to leave at 0300hrs.
13th trip and departing into an ongoing snowstorm in April?
Shoulda figured this was going to be an adventure.....
.......This trip was a little different because we took the cat, Cyrus. He is normally well behaved and very quiet. But he cried loudly for the first two hours, while I was white-knuckling in the snowstorm. Then he settled down for the last three hours of white-knuckling....into Iowa, where the weather seems to always be difficult. We later learned to put him in the closet, which he liked. He also like to lay on the dash.
Because it is wider in back than in front, it is a challenge to miss debris on the road. I saw a rock the size of a tennis ball on the road and swerved to miss. I missed the front wheels but hit the rear wheel pretty squarely. Didn't think much of it at the time, there are many, many potholes with more impact than that rock. But, at the next gas stop, I noticed the tire was low. I aired it up and made it another 500 miles before I decided to get it looked at in Victoria, Texas, since there are limited services available on the island. Turned out to be a
.....The aluminum rim was cracked in two places and causing a slow leak. I stopped at a Discount Tire place, which is a national franchise, I think. They mounted the spare and refused to take any money, even unmounted the tire and placed it in the spare tire storage.
Wow!! I thought. That was a great deal (......story "to be continued"....)
good call....... ......The weather was spotty, mostly cool and rainy. I made the trip to Progresso with Ed and Judy, and we visited Arturo, Ed's golfing buddy who owns a "Farmacia". I walked up to the last big building on the North end, way past Clayton's. I ran into this little shark, on the end of a fishing line, catching a little sun on the beach. And we met these birds, who you may meet sometime down the line as well......
.....On the day before we were to leave, Renee saw the bad weather news on the TV. There was a big storm brewing, for the whole middle of the country, starting early the next morning. We stalled until noon the next day to try to run behind it. We just missed the tornado warning area in Dallas, but caught plenty of Thunder and lightening, wind and downpour. We ran in strong wind all day. We boondocked (camped in a Walmart parking lot for free) in Denton, Texas, where we had stopped before. Next morning, we drove in wind and intermittent rain all the way to where it changed to freezing rain, icy roads and snow.....you guessed it.....in Iowa! The RV, with the 750 lbs of rack and motorcycle hanging off the back, is a challenge to drive on DRY roads................ YIKES!!
We could get no further than Owatonna, Minnesota for another boondock......
......the next morning we were off, only 150 miles to go. But the blizzard was still raging, and the roads were iffy, at best. Not much traffic, though....LOL! We snuck through the Twin Cities, and the roads actually started to improve as we went north.
We thought we had it made.....home free.....when the RV started making an ominous noise.....and then CRACK!......uncontrolled swerve and skid on a snowpacked two-land road at 50 mph........"steer in the direction of the skid"....now the other way!.....I hope no one is coming in the other lane!.....coming to rest pretty much on the center line......silence........ lucky we were still alive.
The wheel that had been worked on for "free" had BROKEN OFF without warning.
......I called 911, then called an old buddy (and patient), Jock. When you have had as many scrapes as Neil and I have, you develop a "network" of "old buddies" in the rescue business. The RV ended up in the heated shop, awaiting repair to a broken wheel, brake caliper damage, new wheel and tire.
15 miles from home.....
Renee tells me she has done the last of her RVing. Her first choice for the November trip is flying, followed by a second choice:......
.........walking.
Uncle Hans
My daughter and granddaughter came to Nevada to celebrate my 68th birthday with me. BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!
This sculpture is so cool. It has a metal framework and a mesh netting. She is proportioned really well and even her toenails are distinct. This was taken at dusk so the extent and colorfulness of the lights do not show up very well. I am sure a picture taken in the dark would be much better.
LAST NIGHT I HAD THE PLEASURE OF BEING DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS ON FREMONT STREET WITH THESE THREE BEAUTIES !!!
LEFT TO RIGHT IS HEATHER, MARY’S DAUGHTER, “GRANDMA JACK”, AND MARY’S GRANDDAUGHTER, MacKENZIE. THE LADIES ARE HERE VISITING FROM LA CROSSE FOR A FEW DAYS.
LAST NIGHT WAS FREMONT STREET, TODAY IS A RELAXING TIME AT CAMP, IN MOHAVE VALLEY, TOMORROW IS KINGMAN, AND THURSDAY IT’S THE LAS VEGAS STRIP. LUCKY FOR THE LADIES, THEY ARE MISSING A SPRING SNOWSTORM AT HOME IN LA CROSSE, 4 – 8 INCHES.
I’LL TRY TO SNAP A FEW MORE PICTURES AND GET BACK TO YOU AFTER THEIR VISIT, AND YES THIS IS MY SIXTH AND LAST VISIT TO FREMONT STREET THIS SEASON.
THE LATEST PICS FROM THE VEGAS CLUB PROJECT.
